James Gunn is talking candidly about the awkward moment he and DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran had to tell Henry Cavill he wouldn’t be continuing as Superman. Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gunn said the conversation was “terrible” and “a total bummer,” adding that the situation was “really unfair” to Cavill.
Gunn explained the timing was a big part of the mess: the day Gunn and Safran’s deal to run DC Studios closed, Cavill’s return as Superman was announced publicly—even though Gunn was already steering the character toward a new direction. Gunn described a leadership “vacuum” at the time that led to crossed wires, with Cavill caught in the middle of shifting plans.
Gunn also said Cavill handled the news professionally and had one request: he wanted to be the person to share the update publicly rather than having DC do it first. Variety and TheWrap both reported Gunn emphasizing that Cavill was a “gentleman” about it.
The outcome, of course, is that DC moved ahead with a new Superman for its rebooted film universe. But Gunn has also made it clear he isn’t shutting the door on Cavill returning to the DC fold in a different role down the line, saying he’d like to put him in something else.
